Long Distance
by Silenceheard
Summary: A phone call between the lovers.


**Title:** Long Distance  
**Pairing:** RoyxEd  
**Words:** 1659  
**Rating:** T  
**Warnings: **Language (It's Ed afterall)  
**Summary:** A phone call between lovers.

**A/N:** Part of my gift for RoyEd Day. Inspired by this lovely piece of artwork I found while lurking through the interweb. Please do Enjoy. :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA or the characters, only the writing is mine.

Fullmetal Alchemist © Hiromu Arakawa

* * *

He was on the phone again, the sleek black handle cradled against his ear while he filled out paper work, listening to Fullmetal rant about how his assignment was proceeding.

All normal, and irritating by Fullmetal's standards.

It was steadily raining outside, filling the office with gloom and darkening the waning evening even further with gray shadows. The pitter-patter of the rain on the window was the only other sound to be heard aside from the ticking of the clock and the low murmurs of his crew in the outer office.

Roy nodded his head appropriately in all the right places, at all the indignant things his little blonde alchemist was suffering through even though he knew Edward couldn't see him. Thankfully, he couldn't hear his thoughts either.

His pen scratched lightly against the paper of a document as he signed his name on the line. Pulling another towards himself from the moderate stack to the left of his elbow, the Colonel read through the details with a keen eye, making notations and changes where he saw fit. All the while listening to the rain outside and his lover's voice through a crackle of static.

"I really, really, _really_ hate this, you know that, Colonel Bastard," Ed whined into the receiver. And hundreds of miles away Roy could hear him scuffing his boots against the floor, the clink of an automail knuckle against the wall: Ed always got restless when he was on the phone.

The door opened, Roy looked up briefly, and his first lieutenant entered: come to collect the the finished paperwork from the afternoon.

"I know. But it's all a part of the job," he said handing over a completed stack of folders to Hawkeye, who smiled knowingly at him as he mouthed, 'Edward,' through a small smirk of his own.

"Finishing these," she indicated the hefty workload in her arms. "Before the end of the day is part of your job too Colonel. Not to mention your best interest."

"Thank you lieutenant, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Roy said dryly absently grabbing the closest piece of paperwork and signing it.

"Are you slacking off again Bastard?" barreled down the line, loud enough for Riza to hear across the room, and shrill enough to startle the raven haired man so that ink splattered across the inside cover of the file.

Riza tried to conceal her amusement by looking exasperated with her superior's antics as he retaliated against Edward by slamming the phone down on the top of the desk a couple of times. However, the corners of her mouth betray her as she observes the man whose back she has sworn to protect interact with his lover. It's a welcoming sight, after so many years to see the fire of his passion rekindled towards another person and not an ideal. It makes her hopeful that perhaps they will all not be consumed by the demands of their goal on their way to the top.

The arguing has gone on long enough and it's time for the Colonel to return to his work lest he not wish to finish before the end of the day. By placing a hand on her holstered weapon, she draws the Colonel's attention to her, raising an eyebrow at his deer-in-the-headlights expression, she simply asks him to have the paperwork completed by five before returning to the outer office.

The other end of the line is silent as Roy rearranges his desk and settles back down to do his paperwork, the phone held between his ear and shoulder so he may have the use of both his hands.

"She gave you the glare didn't she?" Ed says sounding smug.

"One can not compare the lieutenant's method of persuasion with simply 'glaring' Fullmetal," Roy affirms. And they return to their earlier conversation.

He doesn't remember when he has ever been this content at work before, let alone on a rainy day. The raven haired man can't recall a day in the past few months where some catastrophe, be it a mass murderer or disgruntled politician, did not came calling. The strange nebulous of calm that had pervaded his day was odd to say the least yet welcome. Perhaps he's just having a good day or maybe it's simply the sound of his lover's voice soothing out the fray of his absence.

"-iss you,"

"Sorry what was that? The line broke up for a minute,"

"I said... I'm pissed at you and I hope you know this call _is_ long distance and _you _are paying for it,"

"Of course, isn't that the way it always is?"

"It better be or I'll beat the shit out of you," tap, tap, tap went the automail knuckle against the wall, punctuating his words.

"Just like you 'beat the shit' out of the mayor's son?"

A pause. "He had it com'in to'em,"

"I'm sure he did,"

"Bite me Mustang! If you don't like the way I do things then don't send me half way across the fucking country to deal with idiot tightwads when I could be researching more about the stone!" Ed screeched, making Roy wince as he held the phone away from his ear; these phone calls with his lover would probably deafen him one of these days. He was also grateful that Fuery had checked the lines for wiretaps before patching Ed through.

"How's Al?" he asked quickly once he dared put the phone near his ear again. Pulling the ever famous distract-Ed-by-getting-him-to-talk-about-his-brother ploy.

"He picked up another stray," Ed groaned falling for the bait.

"I'm still not entirely convinced that you just don't like cats Edward," he teases lightly, onyx eyes sparkling mischievously. He's a fool who will never learn his lesson but what could he say other than that he loved riling his little lover up to a gold spitting fury: much like the cats he so disliked.

"That's not the point Mustang; I'm just tired of the same routine, he picks up a stray, I have to say no, Al cries and I feel like the world's shittiest brother because I won't let him have a damn cat,"

"You are not the world's shittiest brother Ed; just because you're being practical about the your situation doesn't make you the bad guy. Alphonse knows this. He-"

"He doesn't even _have_ a face Roy and I can still tell, he's got that kicked-puppy look written all over him," tap-tap-tap-tap-tap went the automail knuckle and Roy knew there was nothing he could say to make him feel any better. This far away, words were of little help with Edward, who was all about physical contact, and Roy wished he was there beside Edward to cradle him against his chest and reassure his lover of his faults.

A sharp intake of breath followed by a long exhale traveled down the line."How are things back at Central?"

A change of subject but he'll gladly take the distraction to ease Ed's melancholic thoughts.

"The same as always," he shrugged, laying his pen down and turning in his chair to face the falling rain as it hit the glass. "Havoc's moping because Breda has a date, Falman won a bet with Fuery, and Hawkeye's making sure we don't all jump ship."

A chuckle traveled across the line, light and carefree, in spite of Ed's previous mood and God if he hasn't missed that laugh. "It sounds like I haven't missed much then,"

"I've missed _you_," he whispered reverently, cradling the receiver a little bit closer as if he could somehow melt the miles between them.

"Yeah, like what?"

He thought for a moment, watching the rain race translucent tracks down the glass. Where did he start; he missed everything when Ed was gone. The smell of his hair, the sarcastic quips, those fiery, molten, gold eyes of his, that shark tooth grin when he was up to something. At least he was past the days of moping like a love-sick puppy when particularly long assignments kept them apart. Mostly.

He very nearly said 'I miss all the little things about you Ed,' but caught himself at the last minute. The last thing he needed was to have Ed get angry, bitch him out and hang up on him.

"I miss hearing you laugh, you never do it enough, watching you smile, I miss going to bed with you at night and waking up with you curled in my arms in the morning, I even miss you drooling on my pillow,"

"Shit, Roy," his voice falters. "That sounds really... sappy and lame,"

He can't help but smile: Ed never did like all the 'romantic crap'.

"But I... uh, I kinda like it, you know, when you're lame... sometimes," was it possible for a person's voice to blush? "But not _all _the time,"

He laughs, happy and so besotted with the young man that he knows what he's about to say is the truest thing he will _ever_ say to Ed.

"I love you,"

A pause on the other end of the line and oh he can just imagine the crimson blush, the soft doe-eyed expression in those golden irises, and then the sickening scowl at catching himself acting like a lovestruck, teenage girl.

When really wasn't that how they were both acting?

"Whatever bastard, I'll call you tomorrow," which was Ed for 'I love you too,' and the call ended.

**End.**


End file.
